Maimonides wins $14.8M grant

Maimonides wins $14.8M grant

Maimonides Medical Center in Borough Park has won a highly competititve $14.8 million grant.

The three-year Health Care Innovation Challenge Grant will be used to improve care and reduce treatment costs for adults with serious mental illness who live in southwest Brooklyn.

The Center for Medicaid and Medicare Innovation received 3,000 applications and has awarded 107 grants across the country, with 12 in New York State. This federally-funded program will enroll 7,500 adults in an innovative new model of care delivery, the “mental health home.” In its application, Maimonides, through the Brooklyn Care Coordination Consortium, partnered with 39 medical, mental health, social service organizations, insurers and a labor union.

“People with mental illness often have other chronic medical conditions and too often their care is not good enough. The various providers treating them don’t talk to each other and that can result in substandard care and unnecessary costs,” said Pamela Brier, Maimonides president & CEO.

“The mental health home will help ensure that care is properly managed and coordinated among the participating providers. The program will also train people for exciting new roles in the health care system and provide more than 160 new care management and information technology jobs.”

State Health Commissioner Nirav R. Shah praised "the leadership of Maimonides Medical Center and its partner organizations, this innovative collaboration will improve the health and healthcare for thousands of adults in southwest Brooklyn in need of vital health and mental health services.”

George Gresham, president of 1199 SEIU, said his union is "proud to be part of the Brooklyn Care Consortium bringing a new model of care to very complex patients.

"This innovative approach requires new jobs with new skills in care management and information technology."

Lutheran Hospital Director and COO Claudia Caine, whose Lutheran Family Health Centers is another partner, said Family Health Center "is pleased that this funding will allow us to continue our collaboration with a wide array of medical, mental health and social service organizations participating in this groundbreaking effort to transform the quality and cost of care for this particularly fragile group of patients in southwest Brooklyn."

Institute for Community Living President & CEO Peter Campanelli commented that “this award both acknowledges the significant clinical and technology infrastructure development work that has already been done, and permits the Consortium to fully realize the potential for improving the quality and efficiency of care for this vulnerable population.”